Strictly Come Dancing BTS team on infamous special effects failure

Strictly Come Dancing has been experimenting with different visual effects in recent years to add a bit more sparkle to the show — but it's not always been a success. One infamous moment saw a CGI elephant walk across the screen at the start of one of Bill Bailey and Oti Mabuse's dances in 2020, and it was mocked by fans for its stiff way of walking.

On tonight's Strictly: It Takes Two, host Ellie Taylor asked head of the show's graphic design Joe Phillips about the augmented reality the show has been implementing for the last few years.

"We originally brought the idea in around the COVID time because it meant we could bring more dramatic pieces in while the teams were limited. And it meant we can bring some stuff that you would never be able to make, stuff that's really out there and wild, things that you wouldn't really trust, like animals."

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"Talking of animals", Ellie interjected, before showcasing the clip of the notorious "elephant in the room".

After letting out a sigh, Joe said: "It was a fun piece for us to have done, but it's been called the moonwalking elephant for a while.

"It's kind of... we brought AR in before it was fully ready. It was a moment that we really tried to push to make happen, and there's where we still had some downfalls. We've made massive progression since, and I think that's it good to look back."

Joe, alongside lighting director David Bishop, also talked about the process of getting all the visual effects for all the dances ready in a week's time. He revealed that, sometimes, they're still tweaking the visual effects and lighting right up until the last minute.

Related: Strictly Come Dancing fans "gutted" after "unfair" elimination

With Halloween Week coming up this Saturday (31 October), we can expect plenty of spooky-themed visuals from the team.

The most recent dance off saw Shaun Wright-Phillips and his professional partner Alexis Warr became the fourth couple to depart the show after going up against Jaime Winstone and Carlos Gu.

Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturday and Sunday nights on BBC One, while It Takes Two airs weekday evenings on BBC Two.

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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.